world youth day 2013 - abbey

World Youth Day  Rio- 2013

World Youth Day 2013, stylized WYDRio2013, was the 14th international World Youth Day, an international Catholic event focused on religious faith and youth. The host city of World Youth Day 2013 was Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, as announced by Pope Benedict XVI at the end of the closing Mass of World Youth Day 2011 in Madrid, Spain. The events were held from 23 July to 28 July 2013.
World Youth Day was initiated by Pope John Paul II in 1984. For the first celebration of WYD in 1986, bishops all over the world were invited to schedule an annual youth event to be held every Palm Sunday in their dioceses. It is celebrated at the diocesan level annually, and at the international level every two to three years at different locations.
World Youth Day 2013 was the second World Youth Day to be held in South America; the second to be held in Latin America with the first being held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in April 1987; and the third to be held in the Southern Hemisphere. Additionally, World Youth Day 2013 was the first World Youth Day to be held in a country whose primary language is Portuguese, and the first for Pope Francis. On 24 August 2011, Pope Benedict XVI announced the theme for World Youth Day 2013. Taken from the Gospel of Matthew, the theme will be "Go and make disciples of all peoples" (Matthew 28:19).

1. "The Pope attracts more people than football” in Brazil
"The Pope attracts more people than football" is the phrase that echoed through the streets of Rio among the hundreds of thousands of young people who came not only from Brazil but from all over the world to attend the WYD.
According to Cesar Costa, auxiliary bishop of Rio and vice president of the organizing committee, the involvement of local young people to prepare for the event, had also attracted many young people who were away from the Church. In recent decades, the Catholic Church had suffered a sharp decline. According to the last census: Catholics are more than 64% of the 190 million Brazilians, which is about 123 million. But in 1972 it was almost 92%. Many Catholics who leave the Church follow Protestant or evangelical churches. Besides, in the last half-century Brazil was invaded by thousands of sects of Pentecostal-charismatic groups, said the bishop.

And Francis Pope came to Rio to invite young people to become disciples-missionaries to proclaim Christ to all nations. Brazil welcomed with faith the long pilgrimage of the WYD Cross and Icon of Mary, which came to Rio on July 6 and after their passage, thousands of Brazilian families decided to open their homes to welcome young pilgrims coming from all continents. Even the Evangelical Church and the Protestants showed their generosity. On the eve of the Pope's arrival to Rio an important meeting was scheduled with about 200 young Catholics, Jews and Muslims who proposed concrete actions for interreligious dialogue.

2. In Rio, the inventor of WYD
Following Madrid, the “inventor” of WYD were also present in a certain way in Rio de Janeiro: Blessed John Paul II's relics were in the city of Rio. They were  exposed in the major locations of World Youth Day in Brazil. They were delivered by Cardinal Stanisław Ryłko, President of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, during the Mass celebrated on 7 July, in the Holy Sanctuary of the Miraculous Medal in the Tijuca district, in the north of the city.
For Pope John Paul II it is a return to Brazil's soil, where he was received four times: from 30 June to 11 July, 1980, then on 11 June 1982, then from 12 to 21 October, 1991, and finally from 2 to 6 October, 1997, when Rio de Janeiro held the Second World Meeting of Families. During his stay in Brazil, Cardinal Ryłko also opened the exhibition “In the Footsteps of Christ”, with masterpieces from Italy and the Vatican, which were on display from 9 July to 13 October at the National Museum of Fine Arts in Rio. It is, as the Cardinal recalled, the eighth exhibition organized on the occasion of World Youth Day, and is "concentrated" on works by the most famous artists, painters and sculptors, ranging from the year 1400 to 1800. "Original works”, he said, “which have never been seen before in a Latin American country”.



3. Pope Francis’ First day in Rio
Sean-Patrick Lovett who heads the English Programme of Vatican Radio was in Rio de Janeiro reporting on the Apostolic visit of Pope Francis to the Brazilian nation on the occasion of the XXVIII World Youth Day. He, and others, watched in amazement at the pictures of the Holy Father's car trying to make it to the official opening ceremony. He ended up taking a helicopter instead.
Here is Sean's report: Heads were shaking in disbelief – and other heads will surely roll – after the Pope’s unscheduled drive-about through the centre of Rio on Monday afternoon. It’s true that the 40-minute trip from the airport to the Cathedral was unplanned, but it’s also true that the motorcade mistakenly took the wrong route and ended up being blocked by congested traffic. People quickly swarmed around the car and moments of high tension followed as security agents tried to control the swelling masses that, at times, looked like they might engulf the vehicle completely.

Only after he transferred to an open jeep, did his drive through the city regain the tone of dignity and celebration that allowed Pope Francis himself to relax and greet the enthusiastic crowds with his characteristic warmth and spontaneity. By the time he reached the Cathedral, hundreds of thousands of people had poured out into the streets, determined to give him an authentic Latin American welcome.
That welcome took on stately tones when the Pope reached the Governor’s Palace at Guanabara for the official ceremonial greeting. This time he travelled by helicopter – which solved the traffic issue and allowed him a spectacular view of Rio-by-night. It also helped the organizers pick up some time as the Holy Father’s program was already running one hour behind schedule.
A side-effect of that papal delay was that the Vatican Press Office Director’s press conference also started an hour late – to the consternation of some very travel-weary, jet-lagged journalists who were hoping he would give them the headlines they so desperately needed to trump the story of the royal baby. Responding to journalist’s questions, Fr Lombardi began by down-playing the motorcade escapade, adding that it was the Pope’s secretary who was upset while Pope Francis appeared to be enjoying himself. He also revealed two other pieces of behind-the-scenes information. Firstly that, during their private conversation at Guanabara Palace, the Brazilian President had expressed her admiration for Pope Francis’ speech on the island of Lampedusa two weeks before. Secondly that, during the flight from Rome to Rio, the Pope spent 15 minutes chatting to the pilots in the cockpit – long enough for journalists to begin wondering who was actually flying the plane.

4. Aparecida: knocking at Mary's door..
While Pope Francis inherited from Benedict XVI, now Pope Emeritus, most of the planned World Youth Day events, he also chose to add to the schedule a visit to the Marian Shrine of Aparecida which lies two hundred kilometres from Rio de Janeiro and is visited each year by over seven million pilgrims. It took place on Wednesday, the 24th of July. The event began at the Basilica of the Shrine with a brief moment of prayer in the Chapel by the Hall of the 12 Apostles where an image of Our Lady is housed and it ended with an Act of Consecration to Our Lady of Apericida. A consecration which took place at the end of the Holy Mass celebrated in Portuguese with the local Bishops. During his homily on this occasion, Pope Francis highlighted in a special way his Marian devotion.
As we know right from the very start of his pontificate Pope Francis entrusted his ministry as Successor of Peter to Our Lady making a surprise visit to Rome’s Basilica of Saint Mary Major on the day after his election. In Brazil Pope Francis chose to repeat this gesture of Marian devotion , during his first visit to Latin America, personally requesting it be added to his World Youth Day schedule. He did so at the Marian Shrine of Aparecida, on Wednesday 24th of July in the course of his homily during Holy Mass, at what he described as the house of the Mother of every Brazilian. It was here that he chose to place at her feet the future not just of the young pilgrims currently in Brazil for the XXVIII World Youth Day but also that of the people of the entire Latin American continent.
“When the Church looks for Jesus”, he said on this occasion, “she always knocks at his Mother’s door”. I too, he remarked , have come here to knock on the door of the house of Mary, so she may help us pass on to future generations those values necessary to build both a more just and fraternal nation and world. In order to do this Pope Francis indicated three simple attitudes to be adopted: to be hopeful, to allow ourselves to be surprised by God and to live joyfully.

To be hopeful, Pope Francis insisted forcefully, because despite the presence of evil in society with its attraction to idols that take the place of God such as money , success, power and pleasure , God always has the upper hand. To allow ourselves to be surprised by God because, even in the midst of difficulties, God can surprise us if we place our trust in him. And to live joyfully because Christians should never be gloomy as they always have at their side, the face of God as a loving Father.
Attitudes these the Pope encouraged the faithful to adopt here in Aparecida, where six years ago the Fifth General Conference of the Bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean was held. A Conference Pope Francis described on Wednesday as a great moment for the Church, one which gave birth to a Document which he himself wrote up. And one which six years later he described as the result of interplay between the work of the Bishops and that of the simple faith of the pilgrims under Mary’s maternal protection.